MATERNITY AND
BABY SHOPPING
MATERNITY SHOPPING
After find out you are pregnant you are
probably anxious to go out and buy a whole new wardrobe of
maternity clothes and search for things for baby. I strongly
wouldn't recommend you start buying maternity clothes until you
are starting to slightly show or there is a very good sale. I'm
on my second pregnancy and know how heart breaking it can be to
go out and buy a whole wardrobe at the end of three months and
find out it'll be months before I can wear them. I was in the mid
5 months with my first child before I could wear maternity
clothes and actually look slightly pregnant and I was in the
middle of 4 months with my second child before I didn't look
silly wearing maternity clothes. I found it very depressing and
extremely frustrating putting on a cute maternity top every week
and find it looked awful. It was kind of like the feeling when
you gain weight and can't fit into your favorite shirt or pair of
pants and you try it on often to see if it fits yet. Feelings
like that are something you really don't need during pregnancy.
If you do happen to find a very good sale at a local store then
by all means take advantage of it but hide the clothes when you
get home so you won't be tempted to try things on.
If you do feel like you are ready to go out and buy maternity
clothes by all means DO NOT START WITH ON-LINE STORES! I have
done a lot of research and have found almost all on-line
maternity clothes stores to be the same. They charge $60-$80 for
one dress,$50 for a pair of maternity pants or jeans,$24 -$40 for
one maternity shirt,$7 for one pair of maternity underwear, and
close to $30 for one nursing bra. You need at least 5 to 6
outfits during pregnancy, at least 2 nursing bras and 4 pairs of
maternity underwear and to be honest I'd rather not have anyone
spend hundreds of dollars on clothes you are only going to be
wearing for six to seven months and then have them packed away
for years until you're pregnant again. To me that's just insane,
not to mention you'll need all that extra money for baby items
and other things. The best thing to do when it comes to maternity
shopping is to go to your local K-Mart,or Wal-Mart. I wouldn't
try Target mainly because they have limited selection and high
prices. At least one store should have maternity clothes and they
are good quality, adorable, comfortable and very affordable. Plus
I believe they change their maternity line month by month. My
local K-Mart store has a nice selection of maternity clothes and
I believe they are cheaper than other stores. Unfortunately both
K-Mart and Wal-Mart won't have a very wide selection but its
enough to pick outfits that will last your pregnancy. With the
clothes I have seen at K-Mart, dresses are around lower
$20's,stretch pants are $8-10,maternity jeans are $15-19, and
shirts range from $9-$20. Nursing bras are around $9-20 and packs
of 3 maternity underwear are $8.
If you don't have a K-Mart or Wal -Mart near you, you can always
order through their web site which is still rather inexpensive.
Here are links to their maternity section of their web site which
gives you pictures of what the clothes actually look like. Later
on I'll add pictures of what I have ordered.
K-Mart
Wal-Mart-
BABY SHOPPING
Being in my second pregnancy I've known that as soon as the
reality of being pregnant and having a baby sinks in I get to a
point were I can't walk buy anything related with a baby without
wanting to go on a buying spree to prepare for the new arrival.
I've found most women at some point in their pregnancy go through
the same thing and actually end up in tears going around the baby
section. Right after you find out the gender of the baby the urge
to go out and buy gets stronger. Unfortunately the best thing to
do is resist the urge to shop as much as you can except for
things to decorate the nursery with. I mainly say that because
there is a strong chance that someone in your family will throw a
baby shower for you. A baby shower is basically when all the
women in your family get together and throw a party celebrating
your pregnancy. Each female member brings a gift for the unborn
bundle of joy for you to open to help you start your preparation
for the new arrival. The reason why its best to wait before
buying anything until the baby shower is because most often than
not you'll get most of what you need at the shower including
diapers, wipes, bouncers, car seats, clothes and much more. With
my first pregnancy both my family and my church through a baby
shower for me at separate times and after the baby showers and
plenty of hand me downs from my sister in-law's kids, I had
almost everything I needed, most of it was just from the shower
alone. Unfortunately baby showers are usually thrown a month or
two before your due date which gets very frustrating if you are a
person who likes to plan ahead.
The good thing about baby showers is just like wedding showers,
you can register and choose the things you'd like to receive. I
have only found two places that do baby registration but I'm sure
that there are other baby stores in your area that may do them.
My favorite place to register is Babies R Us. Babies R Us is a
sister store of Toys R Us and it's a really wonderful place to
find a huge selection of baby necessities from the little things
such as bottles and safety plugs to clothes,toys, car seats,
cribs, swings and more. To register all you have to do is submit
some information at their registration desk, take a scanner
around the store, scan the bar code of what ever you would like
on your registration list, you turn in the scanner and they make
a copy of everything you scanned for yourself. When I registered
for my first pregnancy in 98 they gave me cards to send to others
saying I had registered at Babies R Us and all my relatives had
to do was go into any Babies R Us store, give them my last name
and my relative would get a print out of what I had put on my
registration list and how much each item cost. Relatives can also
go to BabiesRUs.com, put in your last name and get your
registration list on-line. If there is not a Babies R Us store
near by your relative they can order on-line.
If you are just shopping at Babies R Us be cautious because some
things may be a little pricey, so if you are on a budget compare
prices at other stores. I've found some items at the store will
be a bargain compared to another store's price and vice versa.
The one thing I do love about Babies R Us is they have
Maternity/New Mom parking infront of the store. I have found it
to be a challenge when I was in the last few months of pregnancy
and we had to park what felt like miles away and by the time we
got to the store I was so worn out and hurt from the walk. I
think it should be a law that every parking lot should have
maternity/new mom parking spaces just like handicapped since
pregnant women are in a sense just as fragile and important as
the handicapped.
Babies R Us also has a catalog you can order either on-line or
through the mail at
Babies R Us
461 From Road
Paramus, NJ 07652-9961
www.babiesrus.com
Target is another store that does baby registration. I have not
personally used it but I have heard from others who have used it
that they have had a lot of problems with it. After they have
registered, family members have gone to find their registration
list only to find its not there or the things on their list is
not what they had put there.
Here is a list of some other baby stores that maybe located in
your area.
Wal-Mart: Some stores may sell more than others but I have found
that they have a pretty good deal and selection on baby clothes.
K-Mart: Same as Wal-Mart.
Baby USA- Mainly specializes in cribs and nursery furniture. I
wouldn't recommend shopping there unless you have a unlimited
budget.
Baby Town